Coronavirus in Spain: Day 28, 28,572 cases

1. Let's go. Spain is now up to 28,572 Coronavirus cases, according to both the Carlos III laboratory page and the Health Ministry page, although the Carlos III site says they are last night's data. 1,720 dead.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 12:03 pm | On Twitter

2. Note this video published earlier by doctor @EstebanMAntona: at the Clínico San Carlos hospital in Madrid, "first extubated patient" in intensive care there. “One by one until there are thousands", he says. https://twitter.com/EstebanMAntona/status/1241471359651364864/video/1
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 12:07 pm | On Twitter

4. In today's Health Ministry data, there is also a national table with Spain data by age: cases, hospitalisations, intensive care and deaths. https://bit.ly/3ae9il4
- 86.77% of intensive care cases: + 50 years
- 87.57% of the dead: + 70 years
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 12:30 pm | On Twitter

5. TVE, citing the videoconference between Sánchez and the regional first ministers this morning, reports the Coronavirus state of alarm in Spain is being extended another 15 days.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 12:35 pm | On Twitter

6. Sánchez cannot extend the Coronavirus state of alarm another 15 days without the prior approval of Congress, according to Article 116 of the Spanish Constitution.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 12:45 pm | On Twitter

7. Fernando Simón reminds Spaniards that the cases in the figures are those that have been detected, not the real ones in Spain, which will be many more, but of some unknown quantity.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 12:55 pm | On Twitter

8. The Chief of the Spanish Defence Staff keeps on with his military metaphors: "There are 47 million soldiers" fighting Coronavirus in Spain, in reference to 47 million Spanish citizens.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 1:00 pm | On Twitter

9. The Secretary General of Transport says commuter train use has been below 12% across Spain for the last two days.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 1:05 pm | On Twitter

10. Trips on other Renfe trains across Spain, including the high-speed AVE service, is less than 10% of normal levels.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 1:07 pm | On Twitter

11. Fernando Simón says government models suggest that the peak of the curve will be reached in a few days but that discipline should not be relaxed. He admits that there are quicker Coronavirus tests for certain people in Spain, like himself yesterday, in command posts.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 1:18 pm | On Twitter

12. The first 15 patients with mild symptoms have gone into a Coronavirus hotel in Barcelona.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 1:29 pm | On Twitter

13. The Morales Meseguer Hospital in Murcia, the reference center in the healthcare area most affected by the Coronavirus here, has already exceeded its initial planned intensive care capacity and is increasing the number of beds.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 1:55 pm | On Twitter

14. Due to Coronavirus state of alarm, Spain suspends the rule requiring a 24-hour waiting period before burying or incinerating the bodies of the dead. Already in force after being published in the official gazette. https://boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2020-3974
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 3:32 pm | On Twitter

15. The suspension of the 24-hour period before burying or incinerating a corpse in Spain is in force now for all the dead, not just Coronavirus cases.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 3:40 pm | On Twitter

16. Sánchez speaking again. He insists on the importance of unity of action: "the war against the Coronavirus is permanent". Announces authorities to take control of nursing homes for the elderly throughout Spain for 30 days. Ex-Schengen third country travel is suspended.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 3:46 pm | On Twitter

17. Still in the middle of current emergency, criticised for lack of material, Sánchez announces the creation of a strategic reserve of medical supplies for future pandemics. He confirms the government wants to extend the state of alarm for another 15 days, until April 11.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 3:49 pm | On Twitter

22. Sánchez talks about wanting to distribute four million surgical masks throughout Spain. Ayuso in Madrid asked for 11 million in Madrid alone. Aguirre said in his Andalusian letter that there they need 250,000 every week.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 4:09 pm | On Twitter

23. Sánchez says Spain is "at the forefront" of taking “extremely harsh measures” against Coronavirus. The country is already suffering "an economic slowdown". Land transport in Spain has plummeted across the board. "The economic shut down our country is suffering".
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 4:18 pm | On Twitter

24. Sánchez: "The measures we are taking and we are asking of Spaniards are very harsh".
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 4:19 pm | On Twitter

31. Also in the official gazette, yesterday, on nursing homes: the Spanish government orders healthcare workers at nursing homes who have had "close contact" with a Coronavirus patient to keep working if they have no symptoms. https://bit.ly/2WLkD8n
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 5:07 pm | On Twitter

36. Casado: the PP will support the extension of the Coronavirus state of alarm in Spain. Says greater protection for nursing homes is a positive move.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 7:19 pm | On Twitter

37. According to the Health Minister's table, since March 10, Madrid has received 1.2 million surgical masks and Andalusia 444,000. Both Spanish regions have denounced the lack of medical material in formal letters this past week.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 7:23 pm | On Twitter

38. Madrid First Minister Ayuso says she is not waiting for the Health Ministry: Madrid ordering two plane loads of medical equipment. "I ask that the shipments not be blocked" at customs, she writes. These public statements clash with the government's message on logistics.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 7:31 pm | On Twitter

39. Medical supplies: new from Canary Islands. The First Minister, Ángel Victor Torres (PSOE), also demands more supplies for his region, "that all the necessary healthcare equipment be urgently made available". So it hasn't yet been made available. Wants to do lots more tests.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 7:38 pm | On Twitter

41. Valencia announces the first move of a Coronavirus patient from an intensive care unit to a normal ward at the Hospital General in Castellón. Via @GVAsanitat https://twitter.com/GVAsanitat/status/1241802478741577729/video/1
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 8:09 pm | On Twitter

42. BREAK: Murcia announces unilaterally that the region is suspending all non-essential economic activity (food, pharmacies, etc.). López Miras announces the regional government has already signed the order: "I demand that it be executed by the competent authority".
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 8:41 pm | On Twitter

44. BREAK: López Miras announces that in Murcia they are using 100,000 surgical masks a week and that since the beginning of the crisis the Health Ministry has only sent 5,000. In Health Minister's table this afternoon, the Minister said they had sent 56,000 to the region.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 8:43 pm | On Twitter

45. BREAK: López Miras says that in Murcia there are 500 patient samples waiting to be analysed for Coronavirus but they cannot do them because of a lack of tests.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 8:43 pm | On Twitter

46. BREAK: López Miras announces all hotels in the region of Murcia are now available to the regional government for use against Coronavirus. He says the region needs 1.6 million masks.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 8:44 pm | On Twitter

47. Murcia announces they are up to 345 Coronavirus cases, 23 in intensive care and three deaths (two older men and one woman with underlying medical conditions). There is a new cluster in a Cartagena nursing home, according to the regional government, three patients affected.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 9:07 pm | On Twitter

49. @FernandoHValls reports the central government's response to López Miras in Murcia: "an order of this nature can only be given by the competent authority, in this case the Health Minister, as the delegated authority under the declaration of the state of alarm".
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 10:00 pm | On Twitter

50. Response from the First Minister's office at the regional government in Murcia regarding the López Miras order and the clash with Sánchez: "tomorrow it is not in force". Residents go to work tomorrow. The requested economic closure of the region depends on PM's office.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 10:24 pm | On Twitter

51. Regional health ministry in Murcia tells me that they do not plan to publish the name of the nursing home in Cartagena where a new Coronavirus cluster has emerged: "This type of information cannot be provided out of respect for the privacy of patients".
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 10:35 pm | On Twitter

52. Importing of medical material: the following pdf was prepared on March 14 for possible import to Spain from factories in China. Masks, masks, suits, glasses, and Coronavirus tests (in blood). Tonight, this material could have already been in Spain.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 11:35 pm | On Twitter

53. The businessman who has sent me the document (and the e-mails that demonstrate the communications chain) tells me that today, from that list, only a few of the masks and glasses have been ordered. None of the Coronavirus test boxes. And look at the amounts…
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 11:37 pm | On Twitter

54. In the Coronavirus test section at the bottom, each box, he explains to me, contains 25 tests: 5,000 x 25, 50,000 x 25, etc. In total, 2,785,000 Coronavirus tests that could have been in Spain already. A week later, today, he hasn't received the order confirmation yet.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 11:41 pm | On Twitter

55. The businessman also sends some photos of a warehouse and a complaint that is self-explanatory: the same Chinese factory in his pdf (which reached the state imports chain in Spain) is already exporting the same Coronavirus tests to Belgium. Why not to Spain?
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 11:48 pm | On Twitter

56. Asked why import companies in Spain have not acted on their own to import medical equipment urgently, the businessman's response is shockingly clear: they fear that the government will confiscate the goods when they arrive in port, because of the state of alarm.
Published: Mar 22, 2020, 11:50 pm | On Twitter

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